What We Were Running From
by indelibles
Summary: -Maybe it was each other all along. A day in the life of eleven people. /For the Caesar's Palace Shipping Week. Modern AU. Title thought of by Sciamachys.
1. CatoClove

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games.**

Clove's hands shake as she flicks the purple lighter, watching the flame flicker for a moment before bringing it to her cigarette. She keeps her thumb pressing down, and waits until the lighter begins to feel hot before letting go and slipping it back into her pocket. The morning air is cold and she revels in the heat of the smoke as she breathes in the poison.

He sits down next to her on the cement bench, holding out his hand wordlessly. She rolls her eyes, "you really have to start buying your own," but hands him the cigarette anyway.

He smirks, and brings the cigarette to his mouth. It tastes faintly of the cinnamon gum she always chews. The bus pulls to a stop in front of the bench, and Cato snuffs out the butt, dropping it to the ground before following her onto the bus. He hands the driver a handful of change and they sit on one of the seats near the back.

The ride is short, but the bus smells of cabbage and cheap perfume, and Cato is glad when it stops. The apartment they share isn't large, but Cato's jacket lies over the back of a chair and Clove's hairbrush is on the ground and it's _theirs. _

Clove was seventeen when she packed a backpack full of clothes and money and walked out of her mother's door for the last time, and by that point Cato was already sleeping at his friend Marvel's house every night.

They met in the rain, out on the balcony at Marvel's house, and the rain that's beginning to come down outside is making Clove oddly nostalgic. It's not a downpour, hardly more than a drizzle really, but it runs in rivulets down the window, and when she leans her head against the glass it's cold.

"Clove?" asks Cato, and she turns. "Do you want Kraft Dinner, or Campbell's?"

She points to the box of macaroni, and he turns on the stove. Back at her mother's, they went out for dinner every night. Her mother's friends would drink wine, their long gaudily painted nails tapping on the table as they gossiped about their other friends. The food was higher quality, but Clove much prefers the cheap and easy to make meals that she and Cato share.

Clove grins. "Hey, Cato?" she says, dumping in the box of noodles.

"What?"

"I'm happy, you know? Being here, with you. It makes me happy."

"I'm happy too." Cato says, and he smiles back at her.


	2. FinnickAnnie

By the time Annie steps into the little café, Finnick is already seated. She walks over to the corner table, and sits down across from him.

"Hey, Annie." He smiles sheepishly. "Sorry we couldn't go to the beach, I just figured that with this rain-"

Annie laughs, and cuts him off. "It's okay. I bet this'll be just as nice."

They sit in a comfortable silence for a moment, before Finnick stands. "I'm going to go get our drinks now. I'll be right back."

The barista stares at Finnick. Her nametag reads _Johanna, _but he doesn't need to look at it. He knows her. "Hi Jo. I'm going to have a caramel latte and an Americano."

Johanna scoffs. "Coming right up, Mr. Hipster."

Finnick rolls his eyes, but laughs anyway, and brings the coffee back to their table. He hands Annie her latte, and she cradles it in her hands.

"So," Annie begins. "How've you been?"

"Good. You?"

"Yeah, I've been good too."

She takes a sip of her drink. He watches. She frowns at him. "What is it, Finn?"

Finnick swallows, then sets his shoulders. This is it. "Annie, I was going to do this at the beach, because it means so much to us both. But I don't want to wait any longer, and this is as good a place as any, so- Annie, I love you more than I will ever love anyone else. Will you marry me?"

By this point he's down on one knee, and he's pulled the ring box out of the pocket on his rain jacket.

Annie nods, her throat almost too dry to speak. "Y-yeah. Of course I will."

He kisses her. The is the moment when in a chick flick, everyone else in the café would burst into cheers. Instead there is one solitary clap, then Johanna's voice flickers across the room.

"Aren't you two just adorable." She snickers.

No one else has noticed, but that's okay. After all their life isn't a chick flick.


	3. HaymitchMaysilee

Haymitch picks up the phone, and dials a number.

"Hello?" responds the woman's voice. It's slightly tinny, but that's what he gets for using a flip phone.

"It's Haymitch, May. I was wondering if you wanted to go out for a drink tonight?" he asks, glancing at the phone on his wall as he buttons up his shirt.

"Yeah, sure. Ripper's?" Maysilee asks, referring to the bar they usually frequent.

"Sounds good. How's ten?" he asks, locking the door behind him.

"I'm working till nine, so that'll work. See you then." She hangs up, and Haymitch slips the phone back into his pocket and gets on the bus beside a teenage couple.

He'll be at Ripper's by nine thirty.


	4. KatnissPeeta

Peeta raises his hand, and knocks on the door. Almost immediately, it swings open and Katniss's mother smiles at him. Her eyes flicker down to his prosthetic leg for a second but she says nothing about it, and for that he is grateful. Mrs Everdeen is a doctor- she's seen worse and she won't think of him any different for it.

"Hi Mrs Everdeen." He says, and smiles. "Is Katniss ready?"

"She'll just be a moment. Come inside." Mrs Everdeen leads him to their couch, and he sits down. Their house is nice, big, and he thinks of how small their previous one was right up until Katniss got that modelling job through her archery training instructor, Haymitch.

Katniss is upstairs, and Prim is braiding her hair. The shorter girl pauses, then slips the last pin into place and claps. "You look beautiful, Katniss!"

"Not as beautiful as you. And thank you for the braid." Katniss stands. "I think Peeta's here, I'd better go."

Peeta is petting Buttercup when Katniss comes down. He takes her hand, and they walk up to his car. They're just going to the movies, but it's the first proper date they've been on since they graduated and they're going to be together and that's enough for both of them.

The night turns out perfect.

"I love you," murmurs Peeta as he kisses her goodnight, and it's not the first he's said it. She smiles against his lips.

As Peeta walks back to his car, Katniss pauses by the door. "Hey, Peeta?" she calls. "You know that I…I love you too."


	5. FinnickJohanna

Finnick is lying on Annie's bed, and Annie's snoring softly against his arm. His phone beeps, and he sits halfway up to grab it.

The text is from Johanna, and it reads, '_What's up, Mr. Hipster?'_

He frowns. _'How am I a hipster?'_

'_You proposed in a coffee shop.'_

Finnick laughs, quietly as so not to wake Annie. Johanna has been his best friend since he was fourteen. They met when he got an offer to join a modelling company- she was assistant to Cashmere (one of their bosses).

'_Still not a hipster.'_

'_Whatever. I'm going to bed now. Night.'_

He sets back down the phone, and thinks of Johanna. When he was sixteen, they had a sort of friends with benefits deal. Before three months, they broke it off as so to avoid getting feelings. She kissed in a whole different way than Annie. Her lips were always warm, almost too hot and she kissed hard.

Finnick shakes his head. What he is thinking? He's engaged and Jo is just a friend and it's been too late for eight years.


	6. CashmereGloss

Gloss sighs, and pushes his key into the door of his and Cashmere's apartment. He sets his bag down on the couch, and pulls out his phone. Two o'clock in the morning. Cashmere will already be asleep.

He brushes his teeth, and changes into his pyjamas before opening the door to Cashmere's room. "Cashmere?"

There's no answer but for the lump of blankets on her bed moving slightly. He raises an eyebrow, then murmurs goodnight and goes to his own room.

When they were children, they shared a bed. He'd protect her from the monsters and she'd sleep with her back pressed against his, warming them both.

Sometimes he wishes it could still be like that- he doesn't move to her though, just turns and walks to his own bedroom.


	7. GaleMadge

Laughing softly, Madge grabs Gale's hand and pulls him outside. He stops to lock the door of his mother's house behind them.

"Did Posy behave?" he asks, glancing back at the house.

"She was amazing," Madge answers. "Really, Gale. I didn't mind at all. She was far better than some of the kids I've babysat."

"Yeah, I shouldn't have been worried." He admits. "Posy's usually pretty good."

Madge nods, and they continue walking down the road. She only lives four blocks from him, and so he walks her home every time she babysits. They stop outside her house, and she waves as he walks away.

"See you tomorrow." It's more of a statement than a question but he answers anyway.

"Yeah. Tomorrow." As he walks away, he's still smiling.


End file.
